Round-up: A Guide to Ultrabooks for 2012

The birth of ultrabooks marked the start of a new era in mobile computing. Under the watchful eyes of Intel and their set parameters for such machine, companies slug it out to meet or even exceed those standards while trying to differentiate their brainchild from the rest of the pack by adding their own personal touch.

If youâ€™re planning to get one this coming holiday season, it may be tough to decide which one to get. So weâ€™ve come up with a list of current Ultrabooks from 7 distinguished manufacturers and its respective pros and cons to give you a better perspective about each of the candidate.

Note: This list is arranged alphabetically and not based on hierarchy. We picked two Ultrabooks from each company based on pricing with one being the cheapest and the other their high-end model.

1.a) Acer Aspire S3 – Unveiled last November, the S3 is one of the cheapest Ultrabook available in the local market with its latest configuration priced at Php39,990. With that price, it is also the first Ultrabook to break the Php40k price barrier.

1.b) Acer Aspire S5 â€“ This Ultrabook has brought a handful of design and performance enhancements from the previous model. The Acer Aspire S5 holds the title as the second thinnest 13â€ ultrabook in town (14.9mm) next to the Samsung Series 9 13â€ (12.7mm). This ultrabook was able to achieve this feat thanks to its hidden compartment which houses the majority of its ports.

2.a) ASUS Zenbook UX31E â€“ From its solid aluminum alloy â€” sand-blasted lid with concentric-pattern finish to its 17mm thin frame, the Zenbook UX31E has SEXY written all over it. But this machine proves that it isnâ€™t just about looks, as it boasts 1600 x 900 display which is the densest weâ€™ve seen on a ultrabook when it was launched. This record was only bested by its successors Zenbook UX31A and Zenbook Prime UX32VD.

2.b) Asus Zenbook Prime UX32VD â€“ Simply put, take a UX31E, put an Intel Ivy Bridge processor and an NVidia GT620M GPU, put in other extra features on the side and you got yourself sexy beast. But these added features, especially the dedicated graphics card, also have its drawbacks especially in pricing and design. In terms of design, it seems that the GPU made the UX32VD a bit thicker and bulkier. Though there’s not much of a difference in pricing between the UX32VD and UX31E, which both a change shy of PhP60K, ASUS has to cut some corners with the former to achieve this pricing. This is evident on 1366 x 768 display of the UX32VD compared to the 1600 x 900 of the UX31E and a slightly lower battery capacity (48Wh vs 50Wh).

You can read our first impression of the ASUS Zenbook Prime UX32VD here.

3.a) Dell XPS 13 â€“ Protection is the name of the game for this ultrabook; actually it’s a bit of an overkill in our opinion. This armored machine’s display is coated from edge-to-edge with a scratch-resistant Corning Gorilla Glass, a feature only previously used on mobile devices. The base is made of durable Carbon fiber material which also dissipates heat. These added protections come at a premium price, but if youâ€™re willing to shell out a few extra grand for a durable Ultrabook, you wonâ€™t be disappointed with the Dell XPS 13.

3.b) Dell Inspiron 14z â€“ If youâ€™re really not into the flashy appeal and the fancy armor of the XPS 13 and youâ€™re looking for a more feature-packed ultrabook, then you should definitely consider this one. But in terms of its design, the Inspiron 14z barely made Intel’s standards for a 14â€ ultrabook (maximum of 21mm) with its 20.7mm thickness. Weighing more than 4lbs, this ultrabook is also among the heftiest in that category. These minor design drawbacks shouldnâ€™t overshadow its 4GB 1600MHz RAM, AMD Radeon HD 7750M 1GB GDDR5 and its 2 fancy 2-Watts Skullcandy Speakers with Waves MaxxAudio 4 sound technology.

4.a) HP Folio 13 â€“ Much like the Dell Inspiron 14z, this ultrabook is forced to play the sidekick role for its highend counterpart even though in reality there’s not much of a difference in terms of specs. The HP Folio 13 is in essence your bare minimum, meaning no over-the-top protection and no cutting-edge thinness. But what it lacks in glamor, it makes up for ergonomics and battery life which makes for a good price-to-feature ratio albeit not as good as the Dell Inspiron 14z.

4.b) HP ENVY 14 Spectre â€“ HP’s ENVY product line is reserved for their top-of-the-line offerings, one that would make any on-looker envious. Just like the XPS13, this ultrabook sports an edge-to-edge Gorilla Glass not only on the crisp 1600 x 900 display but also on the palm rest and on the top of the lid. It also features an equally fancy Beats Audio technology. But for its premium price one would expect an dedicated GPU, large SSD and at least 1920 x 1080 display. Unfortunately these features are nowhere to be seen on this ultrabook.

5.a) Lenovo U310 â€“ this machine joins the ranks of the few Ultrabooks that were able to break the PhP40K price barrier and without sacrificing too much feature at that. Nothing too fancy about this one, but it is a well-rounded ultrabook. So much that we find it hard to think of cons for this computer. This is certainly a note-worthy option for those whoâ€™re looking for an affordable ultrabook.

5.b Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon â€“ taking cues from its earlier version, Lenovo has revamped the ThinkPad X1 making it more sleek and purposeful. Holding the title as the lightest 14â€ Ultrabook thanks to its lightweight and durable Carbon fiber body. It also boast Matte display with 1600 x 900 resolution which is makes for a very crisp display. But youâ€™d have to prepare your wallet â€˜cause this premium ultrabook isnâ€™t as affordable as the U310.

Pros:
â€¢ Very thin and lightweight profile for a 14â€ Ultrabook
â€¢ One of the best touchpad on an ultrabook
â€¢ Durable Carbon fiber body

6.a Samsung Series 5 13â€ â€“ this is the Samsung’s first shot on the ultrabook market and they did pretty well on their first attempt. The Samsung Series 5 13â€ as well as its 14â€ sibling have all tools to be an ultrabook, but other than barely meeting Intel’s standards there’s really nothing in the Series 5 that one can write home about.

6.b) Samsung Series 9 15â€ â€“ this version is the boasts the biggest screen by far in the ultrabook category. The Samsung Series 9’s 15â€ 1600 x 900 400nit Matte display is certainly its key seling point. But since Samsung banks heavily on this ultrabook’s screen, we just wished that they went all in on it by putting a denser resolution like the 1920 x 1080 of the UX31A.

Pros:
â€¢ Bright and large screen
â€¢ Minimalist design and solid construction
â€¢ Long battery life

Here’s a tabular view of the ultrabooks mentioned above. The specs listed above is based on the manufacturers base configuration or the configuration of the unit we saw on the product launch and may vary depending on customizations due to pricing.

Click on image to enlarge.

So that’s our ultrabok round-up. We hope that this post may come in handy in case youâ€™re in the hunt for an ultrabook. Weâ€™ll be publishing another round-up after 6 months or so with an updated list. Expect more exciting ultrabook lineup by then.

I’ve seen that the MBA 13″ 2011 is almost exactly what I’m looking for. However, I’ve never used a mac. So I decided to wait for pc’s answer to it. It has already been well over a year and STILL nothing. I would REALLY like to stay Windows but it is getting difficult. Not only has it been difficult to find a windows-version of a MBA, but the ones that are avilable are even WAY more expensive than the MBA.

How did it came to be that windows-ultrabooks are more expensive than apple laptops? Apple used to be the king of overpriced. you can always buy a windows-version of a mac for way cheaper the price. It seems that this is not the case nowadays. I’ve been looking at zenbook prime, samsung s9, and acer aspire. However, they lack one or two of the key features that I’m looking for.

I used to believe that if you’re looking for a specific pc/laptop-built you can always find it on a pc-build because of the number of options available (and also flexibility). But since recently, everybody has been copying everybody, it has rather been difficult. Is it time to go mac? Suggestions?

newbie

crackinthewall

Just get the Air and dual boot it with Windows. Most Windows ultrabooks are too pricey and only comes with one year warranty. At least you can have the option to extend the Air’s warranty by two years if you want to. Macbooks (Air and Pro) still have the best multitouch trackpads even on Windows.

Hassle-free din ang warranty sa Apple even if they don’t really have an official service center. Puro authorized service centers lang. When they say one-week, you’ll get it in one week and if they can’t fix your device and it’s still covered by warranty, they’ll replace it. :D

Mr. Serious

Yes I have considered that. but because the entry level air 13″ is only at 128gb, installing 2 OS may take up a huge chunk of that. And although MBA13″ runs roughly 7 hours with wifi on (mac osx), on windows it runs 2 hours less.

Pros:
1. Decent graphics cards which allows me to play League of Legends and NBA2k12 at school. LOL
2. Long battery life. With a economy settings which allows 8-10 hours of net surfing. Gaming settings which allows 5 hours straight.
3. Auto updates every now and then.
4. The finger print application is super cool!
5. Super fast start up, mine is 12s without activating its Hi-speed start mode application which turbo to 8s.
6. Great for editing videos.
7. VERY #$@#$#!% THIN and LIGHT!
8. Very cool, and classy. Carry it down the hallway and guys just stares at your ultrabook until you’re out of sight. LOL

Been thinking of switching to a 3rd generation ultrabook once the touch screen app is really works good. Protos like lenovo’s pad really doesn’t convince me yet.

The only difference between a first and 2nd generation is it’s processor. You can always upgrade the ram and graphics card. But if you only use a laptop for surfing just go with those ultraportables which cost less.

it isnt that difficult. Ipads are next level to moltiiby and is for light users who use laptops for merely surfing and mail checking. Don’t use Ipad if you hate touch screen keyboard as if you want to use it for office purpose then you wont feel like typng more than 2-3 lines that too is an overkill. again you cannot install any app you want in Ipad so its only apps from Apple market whereas in laptop you can install anything you want from internet and even have the choice of most apps being free. so the kind of apps you use will also define if you would move to ipad or stick to laptop. hope this helps.